Presenters

Keynote and Presenter- Kia D. London

Kia is a passionate educator, writer, and advocate for equity by way of representation in the world language curriculum. She earned a B.A. in Spanish, an M.A. in Linguistics, specializing in language and identity, and is now currently pursuing her M.A. in Spanish. Kia carries seventeen years of experience in the classroom, and has taught Spanish to second language learners, native, and heritage speakers, for all grade levels K-12. She currently teaches Spanish to 5th and 6th grade students, and works in an additional capacity as a DEI Coordinator in her school community.

As an active board member of ICTFL (Illinois Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages), she co-developed and co-leads the Affinity Groups for ICTFL. Kia works to provide fluid, consistent, and equitable professional development opportunities in her region, as well as informal gatherings for teachers. She is also a recipient of the 2022 ICTFL Distinguished Service Award to Foreign Language Learning, for exemplary teaching of language and culture and providing inspiration to students in teacher training and education programs.

Through her brand, Trailblaze Into Language Learning, Kia has provided workshops and webinars focused on student representation, the African Diaspora, and intercultural competence. She has presented at local, state, and regional conferences, as well as the ACTFL conference. As a writer of comprehensible short stories and articles, she successfully designs a rich curriculum filled with victories and stories of African identities, DEI, and student representation.

She enjoys teaching and learning with her students! Her hope and goal for world language education is that every teacher is confident to provide consistent, equitable, and inclusive instruction so that our current and future students can see themselves in the curriculum.